Immediately after the first episode aired on VH1, LeAnn bragged on Twitter: “Heard from the head of @vh1 that the show did very well, they are extremely happy w/ the debut and all the social activity from last night. Thx everyone for making the show a success! Let’s keep it up! #LeAnnAndEddie We adore all of our fans AND our haters! Thank you xoxo”.

It is not a bad time to be VH1. Thanks to reality franchises Love & Hip Hop and Basketball Wives, the Viacom network is up 20 percent in primetime among adults 18-49 in 2014 — the biggest rise among the top 25 basic cable nets.

But three lackluster launches in July (LeAnn & Eddie, Candidly Nicole and Dating Naked) illustrate that VH1 faces an uphill battle to extend the success of shows starring African-Americans (and with primarily black viewers) to those starring white celebrities.

“The goal is to bring a general market audience back into the fold in addition to servicing our African-American audience,” originals exec vp Susan Levison said earlier in 2014.

That includes plans to broaden the network, continuing to focus on pop culture, music and nostalgia.Of the latest crop, Dating Naked has been the only show to find a reasonable audience, averaging 758,000 viewers over the first few episodes.

And, in fairness, most reality series don’t rocket out of the gate. Love & Hip Hop dipped as low as 680,000 viewers during its first season.

Still, the dismal debut of LeAnn Rimes’ docuseries does not bode particularly well for the similar September entry I Heart Nick Carter. [via Hollywood Reporter]

Despite selling the show’s “authenticity”, Star Magazine reveals that the home the couple occupy on the show is not their own.

“That house ups the glamour and makes LeAnn and Eddie look like they’re living the high life,” the source said of the $5.25 million Malibu home. “They want people to think they’re rich, but the truth is, they live in a much older, rustic house and definitely aren’t swimming in money.”

Incidentally, this is common for security reasons. For example, the Kardashians show the fronts of other people’s homes rather than their own on Keeping up with the Kardashians. Not Khloe – in her and Lamar Odom’s old marital home – but the outside of Kim’s old home and Kris’ current home are not as depicted on the show. Also, on X Factor, the “judges houses” were mostly rentals.